I love bballee's countdown to Training Camp. Just 31 days now. This is the slowest time of the off season. Most of the free agent signings are done and teams with open spots may wait until training camp to fill them so player movement has all but stopped. There's still a little drama out there with Carmelo Anthony and Jamal Crawford dancing around wanting out of their respective teams. But for the most part, there isn't much going on or likely to go on.

To add to the slow down in basketball news, the NFL has started their pre-season and much of the news on CSNE Sports Tonight and Sportsnet Central is about the Patriots. And what isn't about the Patriots is about the Red Sox and their problems as the baseball season winds down. We had some brief excitement with Shaq and Big Baby in town for the UFC hoopla. And, we realized how much fun it's going to be having Shaq on the team just for entertainment value.

There is some basketball murmurings about Team USA and the World Championships going on, but since Rondo withdrew there isn't any Celtics news there. Now that Rondo's withdrawal has been analyzed and disected by every blog out there, there isn't much to talk about. Team USA rolled past their first two opponents in the competition but barely squeaked by Brazil yesterday. But 3-0 is 3-0 and their next game is on Wednesday vs Iran at 12:00 PM Eastern time and will be televised on ESPN. Of more interest to Celtics fans is Turkey's game against Greece today at 2:00 Eastern time. Erden has played well so far and has outplayed some NBA players like Luis Scola as well as Russian center Mozgov ( who just signed 4yr./$8MM contract with Knicks). You can watch Celtics center Semih Erden and his Turkish team on ESPN 3.

Big Baby has been posting some pretty bizarre pictures and tweets on Twitter lately. He hasn't been all play and no work
, however. People who have seen him recently have remarked that he has lost weight and is looking in great shape. His latest tweet was about his 5:00 AM workout this morning. He is also bonding with Shaq already and asked him to be his "locker buddy" this season. Shaq, however, didn't care much for the term "locker buddies" but had some fun with it. And, while we are talking the Big Shamrock, word is that Shaq will be making a cameo appearance as himself in Adam Sandler's new film Jack and Jill in which Sandler will play the part of both twins. I hope Shaq will have time for some basketball games in between Comcast commercials, Shaq vs, and filming with Adam Sandler.

Former Celtic Lester Hudson is in the news. He is a free agent this summer after his brief stint with the Grizzlies last season. The Wizards have invited him to their training camp. He's another one of those guys you have to cheer for. Like Perk and Leon Powe, Lester has overcome a lot of turmoil and odds in his life to get to the NBA and I hope the Wizards give him a contract.

For those wondering what Marquis Daniels has been up to in this off season, you can click here to hear his latest song "Somethin' to Talk About" featuring Kevin Cossum. It seems that our back up small forward has some talent in the musical field. (hat tip to Banner 18). Quisy also has a song titled "Come Here Nikki" which is available on I-tunes and for which they have shot an accompanying video. They also have an album "Life in the Fast Lane" (which includes Nikki) that you can download.

With all the hoopla over the Shaq signing and bigger than life persona, Jermaine O'Neal has been lost in the shuffle. But, JO has been working out this summer with Joe Abunassar at his Impact Basketball camp. KG has also tra
ined there in the past and Impact Basketball has the reputation for giving players an edge in training camp because of the strict regimen that Abunassar puts the players through. Draft Express’s Jonathan Givony was there yesterday and watched a scrimmage between some of the players there including Celtics assistant coach Tyronne Lue, w
ho is trying to make a comeback this season, former Celtic Patrick O'Bryant, Jermaine O’Neal, Tayshaun Prince, Baron Davis, and others. Givony reported that O'Neal is looking good and is in great shape. I can't wait for training camp. Just 31 long days away.

I think if Marquis was a better ballplayer he'd get more flack for his "affiliation" with the Bloods. There was a small controversy last Summer how he would use the letter k instead of c in his tweets (which Bloods do b/c c stands for Crips), but he has continued to do that and if you look at that website FL linked there's more red than a fire hydrant and lots of Blood symbols. Just saying that Iverson never would have gotten a pass on this.

That is possible but don't forget that Perk was able to shut these 'superstars' all season long. That is why he could afford to be close to non factor on offense and still be considered a star and a great contributor to the team.